ISAIAH 64-65 “Isaiah’s Intercession For The People / The
Lord’s Response”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapter 62 where God’s ‘ideal’ servant the Messiah says that he cannot keep silent
until Jerusalem’s righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation
like a torch that is burning, and then at chapter 63 where we see that now that
the salvation that the Lord will provide for mankind is explained, His
vengeance on the nations that will occur at His Second coming is described
1.1.1.
Chapter 62
1.1.1.1.We saw that Jerusalem will be given a new name as will the land of
Israel
1.1.1.2.We saw that the real treasure of
1.1.1.3.We saw the importance of being a prayer warrior and interceding for
God’s people and reminding the Lord of His promises
1.1.2.
Chapter 63
1.1.2.1.Isaiah recorded for us a dialog with God’s ‘ideal’ servant the Messiah
after He has returned from judging the nations and his garments are stained
with the blood of the wicked on the earth
1.1.2.2.We looked at the two different types of judgments that the Lord
promises in His word for the wicked upon the earth
1.1.2.3.Isaiah recalled for us the great deeds that the Lord did for His people
in days of old when He became their Savior and delivered them from their
enemies. We saw that all that the Lord
did in saving and delivering His people was out of grace for it has always been
the case that soon after delivering His people they would again rebel and go
astray from Him in their hearts
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look in chapter 64 at Isaiah’s intercession to the Lord on behalf of
the Lord’s people of his day, and in chapter 65 at the Lord’s answer to that
prayer of intercession
1.2.1.
Chapter 64.
1.2.1.1.We see an excellent example of effective intercessory prayer as Isaiah
prays for his nation and people confessing their sins as being his sins
1.2.2.
Chapter 65.
1.2.2.1.The Lord first tells Isaiah why He has departed from His chosen people
and His hand has not delivered them. It
is their sin which has inflamed His anger
1.2.2.2.We see the Lord promising to bring to salvation a faithful remnant of
His people
1.2.2.3.We see the Lord’s blessed promise to create a new heavens and a new
earth, and then He begins to describe the conditions that will exist on earth
during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom as the curse of sin on the earth from
Genesis chapter 3 is being reversed
2.
VS 64:1-3 - “1 Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the
heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Thy presence—2 As fire
kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Thy name known to
Thine adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Thy presence! 3 When Thou didst awesome things which we did
not expect, Thou didst come down, the mountains quaked at Thy presence.” - Isaiah begins to intercede in
prayer for God’s people and ask the Lord to ‘rend the heavens and come down’
and deliver them by judging their enemies
2.1.
We see in this chapter Isaiah’s prayer of
intercession for His people. As an
intercessory prayer warrior, he identifies with his people and nation as He
lifts them up in prayer to the Lord. He
speaks not of ‘their’ sin, but of ‘our’ sin, etc.
2.2.
By asking the Lord to ‘rend the heavens and
come down,’ Isaiah is asking the Lord to come and to act in judgment on behalf
of His people. This is a serious and far
reaching petition. Not only does Isaiah
desire to see the Lord come and deliver His people, He also wants the Lord to
come and judge the wicked and those who oppress His people.
2.3.
In this chapter, we see that it appears that
the prayer that Isaiah prays for God’s people, the Jews, was concerning present
and abiding problems that did not exist after his time. He intercedes for them in regard to their
idolatry, which is a sin that did not exist amongst the Jews consequent to
their return from captivity in
2.4.
We see that the Lord’s awesome might and
power will be seen when He does come down and judges the nations. The response of the nations when they see the
Lord’s hand in judgment is that they ‘tremble at Thy presence.’
3.
VS 64:4-5 - “4 For from of old they have not
heard nor perceived by ear, Neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, Who
acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
5 Thou dost meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers
Thee in Thy ways. Behold, Thou wast
angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?” - Isaiah says that eyes have
not seen nor ears heard a God who acts in such a way for those who wait for Him
3.1.
Whenever
3.1.1.
Whether it was slavery and
3.1.2.
Isaiah puts it this way, the Lord would
always ‘meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, who remembers Thee in Thy
ways.’
3.2.
Isaiah begins to confess the sins of his
people and nation before the Lord as he recalls how that the Lord was angry
against them because they had ‘sinned’ against the Lord, and continued in sin
‘a long time.’
3.2.1.
In our previous study, we saw the exhortation
to be a prayer warrior as a watchman on the wall continually reminding the Lord
of His promises concerning His people.
In this study, we see a very good example of intercessory prayer.
3.2.2.
Intercessory prayer moves the hand of God,
thus we Christians need to learn to be faithful intercessors in praying for the
church, each other, and the lost!
3.3.
Isaiah even asks the question in the midst of
his intercessory prayer for the nation of because of their great and persistent
sin whether or not they could ever even be saved?
4.
VS 64:6-7 - “6 For all of us have become like
one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our
iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 And there is no one who calls on Thy name, Who arouses himself to take
hold of Thee; For Thou hast hidden Thy
face from us, And hast delivered us into the power of our iniquities.” - Isaiah saw that because of
their sin the entire nation was unclean just in the same way as the Leper or
the woman after a discharge
4.1.
Again, we see Isaiah taking on the sins of
his people in his intercessory prayer for them as he speaks of what ‘we’ have
become and ‘our’ righteous deeds.
4.2.
The sin of the people was not minor, nor was
it just an occasional indiscretion, they were completely given over in sin, for
‘all’ of their righteous deeds were like a filthy garment.
4.2.1.
This is really a description of the state of
the whole human race. There is no
goodness nor soundness in us, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God (Rom. 3:23), and there is none who is righteous, none who does good or
seeks after God (Rom. 3:10-12).
4.2.2.
None of us could ever even desire to come to
know the Lord if it were not for the fact that the Lord sought out after us,
convicted us of our sins, and opened our eyes to the truth that leads to
salvation through Christ.
4.2.3.
In and of ourselves, none of us could ever be
made acceptable or righteous in the Lord’s sight. Thus, we could only be saved through the work
that Christ did on our behalf upon the cross of
4.3.
Isaiah also sees the consequences of the sin
of the nation being that the Lord had hidden His face from them and they had
been delivered over into the power of their iniquities.
4.3.1.
This is the same thing that Paul wrote about
in Rom. 1:24 where he said in effect that when people continue on in their
rebellion and sin against God that eventually the Lord gives them over to their
lusts. Eventually people become slaves
to unrighteousness, slaves to sin, and slaves to the Devil without the Lord, if
they continue to reject the Lord.
5.
VS 64:8-9 - “8 But now, O Lord, Thou art our
Father, We are the clay, and Thou our potter;
And all of us are the work of Thy hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, Neither remember iniquity
forever; Behold, look now, all of us are
Thy people.” - Isaiah pleads to their Father in heaven to
have compassion and not be too angry againt them for they are just clay and He
is their potter
5.1.
This is a very child-like prayer. Isaiah is praying to a great and all-powerful
God who could smash the nation flat in an instant, and yet he appeals to Him as
a child to his Father to not get too angry, and to forgive them.
5.2.
What father cannot forgive his child when he
is sorry and penitent for doing wrong?
Surely, the Lord hears our prayers when we come to Him in godly sorrow
and repentance and yet again ask Him to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
6.
VS 64:10-12 - “10 Thy holy cities have become a
wilderness,
6.1.
As was mentioned earlier, Isaiah’s prayer in
this chapter reflects the period of time in which he lived, and the sins of the
people at that time. This is actually
seen primarily by the Lord’s response in chapter 65 to Isaiah’s prayer. However, these verses actually anticipate the
desolation of
6.2.
We saw in our study in Isaiah that in
chapters 42 through 48, Isaiah had prophesied that Judea would be conquered by
Babylon, taken captive, and her cities and temple destroyed, and then that a
man whom he named as “Cyrus” would come along and allow the people to return to
their nation, rebuild their city, and their temple.
6.2.1.
History records that
6.3.
Isaiah intercedes for the future generation
of Judeans living 100+ years after his writing, as he asks the Lord if He would
‘restrain Thyself at these things,’ or ‘keep silent and afflict’ His people
beyond what they would be able to endure.
He then asks the Lord to have compassion and pity upon them because of
the state of their nation, city, and temple which had been destroyed by their
enemies, and help them to be restored to the Lord and then be able to rebuild
their nation.
7.
VS 65:1-5 - “1 “I permitted Myself to be
sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation
which did not call on My name. 2 “I have
spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way
which is not good, following their own thoughts, 3 A people who continually
provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on
bricks; 4 Who sit among graves, and
spend the night in secret places; Who
eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. 5 “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come
near me, For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.” - The Lord responds to Isaiah’s
intercession for the people of
7.1.
The history of
7.2.
The Lord’s comments and complaints in these
verses all involve
7.3.
The
Lord’s comments in these verses about the idolatry that the children were
involved in at the time of Isaiah’s writing tells us that Isaiah was
interceding for the people of his very generation:
7.3.1.
‘Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning
incense on bricks,’
7.3.2.
‘Who sit among graves, and spend the night in
secret placesl’
7.3.3.
‘Who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of
unclean meat is in their pots.’
7.4.
Not only had the Israelites, and in
particular the Judeans at this time, been involved in the idol worship of the
other nations, the Lord tells us that they also were self-righteous and had
set-up a caste-like system amongst themselves where some of them thought that
they were holier than others.
7.5.
The sins of the people of
8.
VS 65:6-7 - “6 “Behold, it is written before
Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will even repay into their bosom, 7 Both their own iniquities and the
iniquities of their fathers together,” says the Lord. “Because they have burned
incense on the mountains, And scorned Me on the hills, Therefore I will measure
their former work into their bosom.”” - The Lord promises to repay the Israelites not
only for their own sins but also for the sins of their fathers
8.1.
Again in these verses we see the idolatry of
the nation of
8.2.
The Judeans were children of their
forefathers who were idolators, and they were suffering because of the sins of
the forefathers. In Exodus 40:4-5, we read that the sins of the fathers in
idolatry would be passed on to their children to the third and fourth
generations, “4 “You shall not make
for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the water under the earth.5 “You shall not worship them or
serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of
those who hate Me,”
9.
VS 65:8-10 - “8 Thus says the Lord, “As the
new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there
is benefit in it,’ So I will act on behalf of My servants In order not to
destroy all of them. 9 “And I will bring
forth offspring from Jacob, And an heir of My mountains from
9.1.
The Lord in these verses is speaking of the
inheritance that shall occur in the end times, and thus these verses regarding
who shall inherit the promised land are eschatological. It is the promised land of Christ’s
9.2.
The Lord could not destroy all of the people
of
9.3.
There is a principle all throughout
scripture that we need to understand however. This is that just being a
physical descendant of one of God’s people did not really ever make you truly
one of God’s people. In
9.3.1.
Many of the physical descendants of
10.
VS 65:11-12 - “11 “But you who forsake the
Lord, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And who fill
cups with mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, And all
of you shall bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight, And chose that
in which I did not delight.”” - The Lord tells us that He will reject from
His promises and blessing those who forsake and forget Him
10.1.
This is of course the flip side of the
“faithful remnant” who is mentioned here.
These ones have turned away from the Lord and have no desire in Him,
even though they may have been descended from
10.2.
The Lord called out to the physical descendants
of
11.
VS 65:13-16 - “13 Therefore, thus says the Lord
God, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, My servants shall drink, but you
shall be thirsty. Behold, My servants
shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame.
14 “Behold, My servants shall shout joyfully with a glad heart, But you
shall cry out with a heavy heart, And you shall wail with a broken spirit. 15 “And you will leave your name for a curse
to My chosen ones, And the Lord God will
slay you. But My servants will be called
by another name. 16 “Because he who is
blessed in the earth shall be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Shall swear by
the God of truth; Because the former
troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My sight!” - The Lord contrasts the
blessings for the “faithful remnant” of His people with the curses for those of
His people who reject and turn away from following Him
11.1.
These verses refer to the events that will
occur during and at the conclusion of the 7 Year Tribulation of the book of
Revelation. The Lord shall return for
His church and bodily resurrect His people before the beginning of the 7 Year
Tribulation of the book of Revelation.
Then, during that seven years of tribulation, the people on the earth
will be tested and proven by the tribulation, and sifted like wheat. Many will come to salvation during the tribulation,
but many more will reject the Lord and the good news of salvation. The 7 Year Tribulation will climax with the
Battle of Armageddon when all of the nations upon the earth shall gather
together against the Lord. At that
battle the Lord will return and slay all of the wicked gathered there, and then
the Sheep And Goats Judgment will occur in which all of the wicked (those who
aren’t God’s people) from all over the earth will be separated and cast into
eternal hell. Christ’s kingdom will then
begin by having only those sheep, the ones who are righteous people (those who
know Christ as their Lord and Savior).
These sheep will be joined by all of the rest of God’s people of all
eras who previously were resurrected when Christ returned for His church.
12.
VS 65:17-19 - “17 “For behold, I create new
heavens and a new earth; And the former
things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
18 “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create
12.1.
There is such a blessing in reading about the
new heavens and earth as well as Christ’s
12.2.
The Lord’s answer to Isaiah’s prayer of
intercession for God’s people involves His end times scenario of a
12.3.
The term ‘new heavens and new earth’ refers
in Revelation 21:1-5 to a period of
time after the Millennial Reign of Christ and the Great White Throne Judgment
which will follow, “1 And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and
there is no longer any sea.2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of
God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be among them,4 and He shall wipe away every tear from
their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be
any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”5 And He
who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He
*said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.””
12.4.
In these verses the term ‘new heavens and new
earth’ that will be created is followed by a description of conditions which
will occur not when God has created a new heavens and a new earth, but during
the period of the Millennial Reign of Christ.
For one thing, there will be no more death in the eternal
12.4.1.One
writer suggests that this is not the same ‘new heavens and new earth’ of
Revelation chapter 21, but rather refers to the
12.4.2.I
believe the best explanation is that when we read Old Testament prophesies of
the Old Testament that we see the two periods often spoken of together. In the prophets’ minds the two events were
related and connected, and possibly in some cases not fully understood by them.
12.5.
In any case, we see in the rest of this chapter
a description of the period of Christ’s
13.
VS 65:20-21 - “20 “No longer will there be in
it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his
days; For the youth will die at the age
of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Shall be
thought accursed. 21 “And they shall
build houses and inhabit them; They
shall also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” - The Lord tells us that during Christ’s
13.1.
In these verses, we see life in Christ’s
13.2.
The Lord shows us that during Christ’s
13.2.1.Babies
will not die in infancy.
13.2.2.People
will live to ripe old ages, 100+ years, with none cut short by disease.
14.
VS 65:22-24 - “22 “They shall not build, and
another inhabit, They shall not plant, and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so shall be
the days of My people, And My chosen ones shall wear out the work of their
hands. 23 “They shall not labor in vain,
Or bear children for calamity; For they
are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord, And their descendants with
them. 24 “It will also come to pass that
before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” - The Lord tells us that the
favor and blessing of the Lord will not be reversed for God’s people during
Christ’s Millennial kingdom
14.1.
During Christ’s
14.2.
During Christ’s
14.3.
During Christ’s
14.4.
The Lord gives His people a wonderful
promise. During Christ’s
15.
VS 65:25 - “25 “The wolf and the lamb shall
graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the
serpent’s food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says
the Lord.” - The Lord tells us that the curse over the
natures of the creatures upon the earth will be removed and none will any
longer be predators, for all will eat straw
15.1.
As part of the curse upon the earth in the
garden of Eden, the Lord caused the natures of the animals and creatures upon
the earth to become predatory and fierce.
However, during Christ’s